Hopkins, Harry

1890–1946

   Hopkins was a close friend and adviser of President ROOSEVELT. He had served as Secretary of Commerce and played a leading part in the direction and strategy of the war as Chairman of the Munitions Assignment Board and as a member of the Pacific War Council, the War Production Board and the War Resources Board. He was also Roosevelt’s special adviser to the Allied leaders: in January 1941 he had talks with CHURCHILL to set the Lend-Lease arrangements in motion; in July of the same year he visited STALIN to discuss the USSR’s needs. He visited London twice in 1942 and also attended all the major Allied conferences that took place. During these conferences he often acted as Roosevelt’s spokesman and was called in to deal with tricky questions. At the Casablanca Conference he tried to mediate between Generals DEGAULLEand GIRAUD. At Yalta and Teheran he was particularly concerned with the future of Europe after the war. Hopkins’s last important mission was after Roosevelt’s death when President TRUMAN asked him to go as his special envoy to Moscow for talks with Stalin. Hopkins’s poor health caused him much pain throughout the war but even on this last mission he overcame his suffering to get an agreement on the future government of Poland. He died shortly after the war.